Cracks fingers before going on an epic scifi nerd rant

I have to give it to Blade Runner and I think the fact that the poll is so heavily one sided is a clear indicator that I'm in an older Lens demographic 👴

Younger heads may not appreciate how difficult it was in the pre CGI era to create truly immersive, other worldly environments. That movie was a masterpiece of set design, costume design and even use of miniatures. Everything down to the use of rain, steam, lighting and set location. A truly classic way of painting a picture on every frame. The story is definitely less cerebral than the Matrix although it did leave a good lingering question about whether Ford's character is human or not.

The Matrix also had an extremely vivid stylistic approach. They pioneered bullet time filming to create an "in the simulation" filming style. Used tropes from Westerns and Kung Fu movies. Costume design was interesting. The "in the simulation" idea wasn't entirely new though, the movie The Thirteenth Floor had come out several months earlier for example.

They're neck to neck really except, Blade Runner was picked up by a new generation of scifi auteur film maker Dennis Villanue and enriched, while the Matrix sequels where trash compared to the original.

Both are Cyberpunk classics though

Ugh. A tough one. I chose The Matrix even if I believe that Blade Runner is the much better film. I watched Blade Runner very long ago on our small TV and taped it on VHS to re-watch it countless times. When The Matrix came out I was a bit older and watched it in the cinema. There was not much internet at that time and my idea of a "Matrix" came from the novel Neuromancer, where the Matrix was a visual representation of the internet. Myself I was pondering about the idea that we are all living in a simulation without knowing that I was not alone with that concept. So when I watched The Matrix slightly stoned in the cinema it occurred to me that the film was picking up my totally private thoughts and I even believed that the film was specifically made for me to give me a confirmation that we are actually living in a simulation. So it sent me into a short existential crisis that only faded a few days after seeing the movie.